Ah! Kizu No Kokoro Scars of the Heart
by Sukemori
Summary: This is the beginning of a series that introduces the concept of Kizu No kokoro from Urd's perspective as it relates to Belldandy and Keiichi's love


Urd slowly sank into the bath. The water was still warm to her skin and the pain that she felt earlier that day was slowly fading away as the water cleansed her soul. It was a great feeling to take a bath and know that everything around could wait as she relaxed in the pure ecstasy of a bath.

"Keiichi-san, when will you finally do what your heart desires? You know you can't keep going at the pace you're going and not completely fulfill Belldandy's wish to be with you."  
Just when peace was settling over Urd into sleep she heard the soft knock at the door. "Urd, can I join you," came the soft and worried voice of Skuld.

"Come on in honey. There's plenty of room in here for both of us."

Slowly the door opened as Skuld walked in wearing just a towel around her childish body. Yet there was something different about her today. She didn't have the strong will that she carried around her as she usually did. At the time she seemed sad and worried with her head hanging down and looking at the ground.

"Take a bath with me Skuld. I'm using a special kind of bath mineral that cleanses the mind and body of all of its worries and by that look in your eye you could really use it right now."

"Okay"

Skuld slowly let down her towel to join Urd in the bath. Yet she Skuld still could not look Urd in the eyes. Skuld leaned back into Urds chest and rested her head. Urd knew that something was wrong but she didn't want to force it out of Skuld. She knew she would have to wait until Skuld wanted to talk about what was actually bothering her. Urd reached out and began to stroke Skulds hair back.

"Urd, why does Keiichi have to take Big Sis from us?"

So that was what was bothering Skuld so much. She knew that Belldandy and Keiichi were getting closer and closer to each other as the days went by. Things would have gone further between them if her and Skuld had not been there, but she knew in the back of her mind that Keiichi needed Urd to guide him out of his little grammar school boy mode into a real man. Belldandy needed Skuld there because Skuld was her little sister and it was good to remember once past and never forget their family.

"What do you mean, Skuld? Keiichi's not taking Belldandy anywhere and why are you getting so worked up about this?"

"I just feel that Belldandy is leaving us further and further behind each day for Keiichi and there's nothing we can do to stop them. I'm just afraid that in the end Big Sis will forget about both of us for him and it will just be the two of us in the end. Then what will we do? I just can't go on knowing that I don't have Big Sis in my life and…and…" That was when the tears started falling and disrupting the bath water.

"Oh, Skuld," Urd whispered into her ear and she reached around to wipe away the tears from Skuld's eyes. "You don't have to worry about Belldandy leaving us behind for Keiichi. She can never forget her past neither her family, beside Keiichi knows that in the end he needs us just as we need him. We've become a family that can't be separated no matter what happens. Look back at everything that we went through and how we all managed to make it through it all. In the end it has always been Keiichi who has helped us Goddesses make it in this world.

"Of course we have been a big influence in his life as well. Before we came here he was troubled with bad luck and misfortune, but thanks to Belldandy he's now happier each day because he can wake up each morning and know that she is there to greet him and make his day better. Can you really take that from him, Skuld, and leave him an empty and broken man?"

"No….but what am I supposed to do? It hurts me deep within my heart knowing that Big Sis may one day not be there to catch me when I fall. It just scares me knowing that I'll be alone and that I can't…."

"Do anything to stop her from leaving," asked Urd as she leaned Skuld back further to look into her eyes. Skuld had been crying for a few minutes and her eyes showed the pain that the tears were coming from. Urd knew that the pain she was feeling now would not disappear for many years to come. Urd still felt the pain that the Spirit of the Peach Tree had inflicted on her heart when he had left to find the Golden Nightingale. "I know exactly what you're going through, Skuld. You just have to give them time to work things out between them and hope that your Kizu No Kokoro will heal."

"Kizu No Kokoro? What are those," Skulds curiosity seemed to have left Keiichi and Belldandy's situation to this new situation that was presented before her just as Urd had intended.

"Kizu No Kokoro is something that you can not see with your own eyes….except maybe Keiichi's in a way, but I'll get to that in a moment. Kizu No Kokoro are scars that are left behind on the human, and in some cases the Goddesses, heart after being separated by the one that they love. For humans this scar is created when they are separated from the love of someone that they are close too. It is usually first created when they are separated from their parents, but nobody can say when exactly the scar first appears. We Goddesses don't have to worry about being separated from our parents in such a way to create these scars because we are on a different level then these humans. But we both feel these scars in certain situations.

The one situation that we have in common with these humans is when we feel a love between ourselves and another of the opposite sex. The depth of the scar all depends on the depth of the love that is felt between these two people. The greater the love that is between them when time separates them, the deeper the scar they feel is. You can not see it on my but deep within my heart I too have a Love Scar that I feel every day because of the Spirit of the Peach Tree. Belldandy has one also in her heart she felt for a time when Celestine left her on her own. And do you remember the pain you felt when your angel was taken from you. That is a Love Scar also, but we all have found ways to erase these scars."

"Wait, Urd. You mean you can actually get rid of these scars? Their not something that your forced to live with forever," the look of shock and surprise in Skuld's eyes had replaced the tears she had moments ago. Urd knew that soon Skuld would understand the importance of Keiichi and Belldandy's love for one another.

"Come on little one I'll show you"

Skuld quickly got out of the bath and began to towel herself dry. Urd sat for a few more seconds because she didn't want the water spell she used to go to waste. Yet she knew someone else could have used spell after the day that he had gone through.

"I'll meet you in your room Skuld in a moment but first I want you to see something. Oh, Keiichi-san!! The bath is ready for you"

By the time Keiichi made it to the bath Skuld and Urd we already toweled dry and clothed. Naturally Keiichi was kind enough to knock and waited for Urd to invite him in so that he knew he would not upset Belldandy again.

"Come on in, Keiichi. Listen before we leave do you mind if I look at your back real quick. I just want to make sure that wound you received from the Lord of Terror is not coming back," Urd questioned as Keiichi entered the room with his eyes covered.

"Um….sure" Keiichi lifted off his shirt and turned around to show Urd the small patch of white skin left on his back from the Lord of Terror in the form of claw marks. It had been so long, but the wound refused to disappear. Urd did not know if it was because of the actions he took when he received the wound or just because his body could not heal it properly.

"Now hold still, Keiichi," whispered Urd. She bent closer to examine the mark on his back. It seemed that it had healed a little since last time that she looked at it but still it refused to heal completely. Urd knew that this was one of those scars that will never leave him without the proper care of a loving woman.

"It's looking at a lot better but…." Urd couldn't bring herself to tell him what she knew about the scar on his back, but she didn't want lead him on about the truth so she decided to take it a different path.

"But what," asked Keiichi as he started to turn and look at Urd.

"If you want I can get rid of that scar if you let me bathe you," Urd said in her most seductive voice as she pressed her breast into his back. Naturally Keiichi jumped three feet forward and began to put his shirt back on.

"Um….no…no…no….I'll just let it heal naturally, um if you don't mind Urd"

"Oh you're no fun, Keiichi. Come on Skuld we better let Keiichi take his bath. Oh by the way, Keiichi, that's a special mineral bath there. Don't worry it's not like the other spells we put on you. This bath is designed to cleanse your mind and body and make you feel a lot more relaxed."

"Arigato, Urd-kun. I take it Belldandy told you about my day?"

"Yeah, sounded like those guys at the Motor Club really gave you a rough time today about your bike…along with a black eye apparently. And from you the way you're holding your shirt tells me that you left with more than that."

Keiichi let his shirt fall to the floor to show the giant bruise that took up a good quarter of his right rib cage and a cut on his collar bone that appeared to just have finished bleeding and was starting to heal. Urd knew that there was more but didn't want to push her luck, especially when Belldandy was standing at the door with a rag and medicine in her hands.

"Keiichi-san, do you mind if I put some medicine on your body? You look pretty hurt," asked Belldandy with all the love she could muster in her eyes. Urd took the opportunity to look at Skuld to see what she would do, but was surprised when she saw Skuld looking down at the floor.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to my room and wait for Urd. I really want to hear the rest of what you were telling me Urd." With the Skuld walked out of the room with her head held high as if nothing was bothering her, but everyone in the room knew something was wrong with Skuld and that she was just too proud to admit it.

"Urd…what is she talking about," asked Belldandy as she watched Skuld walk down the hallway.

"Nothing, Sis. You better help Keiichi clean his wounds before he realizes what you're doing and runs and hides in his room"

"HEY!! I'M RIGHT HERE!! You're so mean sometimes, Urd." Even though Keiichi did his best to show anger at what he was saying but both he and Urd knew that he was still scared to show his weakness to Belldandy. Just like a typical male to be scared to show weakness to a woman.

Urd walked to the door and turned in time to see Keiichi taking his seat in the bath as Belldandy prepared the medicine for his wounds, fresh…and old.

"Keiichi…I can never apologize enough for what I have done to you, but please be at peace at the knowledge that you have a loving woman like Belldandy there to clean your scars from now and forever."

Both Belldandy and Keiichi looked to Urd to ask what she meant by that but Urd had already left them in peace and was walking towards a possible future where they would both be free from the burden that they both faced. Free from any scars of the heart.


End file.
